Longoria (Evan) a Devil Ray

The Devil Rays got the player they wanted in Tuesday's draft, selecting Long Beach State third baseman Evan Longoria with the third pick, then announcing they had already agreed to contract terms on a minor-league deal. Longoria hit .353 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs in 56 games. Considered the best pure hitter among college players by Baseball America, Longoria had a .468 on-base percentage and a .603 slugging pct. (in 56 games). Longoria was the Big West Conference co-Player of the Year is a finalist for Golden Spikes Award, given to the top collegian. The Rays considered Longoria their top choice from among five candidates for the pick, but didn't know until Tuesday they could get him. Kansas City picked first and chose pitcher Luke Hochevar, who was drafted last year by the Dodgers but didn't sign, and Colorado went second and took Stanford pitcher Greg Reynolds. That cleared the way for the Rays to land Longoria, who is projected to move quickly to the majors and have a powerful bat when he gets there. He is not, however, related to actress Eva Longoria, one of the stars of ABC's Desperate Housewives.←

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The Tampa Bay Rays will head into the 2015 season with Evan Longoria, Chris Archer, Alex Cobb and plenty of new faces, including manager Kevin Cash. Can they upend the Orioles in the highly competitive AL East? Come here to follow Rays news at Tropicana Field and beyond.